The prior art has provided various types of panel arrangements incorporating elongated spaced apart panels which are connected by various forms of panel carriers to a suitable structure. Many panel carriers presently on the market are unduly complex. In addition, most panel carriers presently in use are not suitable for use as replacements for existing carriers.
Carrier adapters are known which fit over a horizontal flange on an existing ceiling carrier or a support member having a horizontal flange. In particular U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,000 to Sutter shows a mounting device for a ceiling member. The device is an elongated adapter strip with tabs punched out of a horizontal portion of the adapter. The tabs secure decorative panels to inverted T-shaped ceiling grid support assemblies. The adapter has a C-shape which clips onto a horizontal flange of the existing grid.
The Sutter type clip however is arranged so the weight of the decorative panels causes the C-shape to open thus loosening the connection to the grid. Furthermore there is no positive prevention of the clip being moved off the grid. Further Sutter does not touch or give a solution for the issue of a possible interference of transverse grid supporting member with adapter(s) when the adapters are used with crosslinking grid supports. Such grid support assemblies are mostly used for several ceiling types to meet building requirements in respect of fire resistance and strength or as part of tile grid ceiling supporting the tile elements. This problem does not occur if a plurality of adapters are used that each have a length to fit in between subsequent transverse grid members such as known in U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,996 to Smith. Such construction requires a large number of short length adapters and makes installing cumbersome and laborious.